Unclear
by Crow's Stories
Summary: As Jeff is suffering from his incurable illness in the hospital, he'll soon experience something that he has never experienced before.
1. Chapter 1: It All Started When

_**Forgive me for the long absence. I keep running out of ideas a lot often. I don't even know what to write for the next chapter of a Hetalia crossover fic that I wrote back then. Because of that, I decided to start another fanfic, this time with Earthbound, one of my favorite video games.**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Earthbound. Earthbound belongs to Shigesato Itoi.**_

**Chapter 1: It All Started When...**

That night, Jeff, who is sleepy, is sitting calmly on his bed. Not a regular house bed, it's a hospital bed. He seems to have no idea why he ended up there. His face looks pale.

What's actually happening to him anyway?

It all began when the Twoson folks were planning a birthday surprise for Paula. It was a really fine day. Almost everyone in Twoson was busy preparing the birthday surprise at the park. Ness was there too, along with Jeff and Poo. Even the Runaway Five was also into that preparation.

"Ness, don't you think that it's too much?" Jeff asked.

"Meh. It's not my idea. But at least it's fun to prepare something this big!"

As everyone was still busy, Jeff was thinking about something for the surprise. "I shouldn't get bored. I need to do something. Anything." Jeff then heard a small talk.

"Ness, according to the Twoson people, Paula's parents took her somewhere far from this town. I guess that's fine since she has her parents." Poo said.

"Hmm... what if they got lost? I mean, it would be difficult for them to go back to Twoson if they went too far away."

Ness thought for a while, then looked at Jeff, who had heard their conversation.

"Ah, Jeff! I think I know what you can do right now! Come here!"

Jeff just walked to Ness. Ness whispered something in his ear. Jeff just nodded in delight.

"Ness, what is your idea?" Poo wondered.

"Just wait and see! Jeff will work on something big."

As everyone, including Jeff, was busy working, time had passed. Hours had passed. The sun had finally set. Jeff was still giving some finishing touches to his machine. Everything was fine until he realized that something bit his wrist. He looked at his right arm, at the wrist. There's a mosquito-like creature sucking up his blood. It looks like an ordinary mosquito, but it has green, glowing eyes. Jeff quickly moved his arm to let that creature go. Of course, the mosquito thing flew away and fled.

"Hmm... what a weird mosquito. But never mind, there are some weird creatures here anyway. Back to work."

A few minutes later, Ness ran into Jeff's place and said, "Hey, Jeff! I got some news that Paula and her parents will come back here! Come on! Light up your thingamajig!"

Jeff just nodded, then he checked his machine a bit more to make sure everything's fine. After that, he turned on the machine. It appears that the machine looks like a spotlight, giving out a bright light up into the night sky.

From far away, Paula's father, after seeing the light from Twoson, told her, "Oh, looks like we're going to find something nice at home!"

"Wow, I believe that must be Ness and the others! I'd like to see it!" Paula got excited. And so, Paula, followed by her parents, went back to Twoson after having a long trip at the forest.

As everything was working according to plan, everyone got into their own positions. Jeff just stood by his machine, planning for the grand surprise.

"Well... even though this seems overdone, maybe it's not that bad to just do it once. Whoever had this idea... never mind. Hmm... the bite on my wrist... it's not itchy at all." Jeff mumbled to himself.

Paula and her parents were getting closer to the park in Twoson. Ness saw this, and shouted at Jeff, "Now go! Let that baby roll!"

Jeff then searched for a switch on his machine, but as he was about to flip the switch, his vision started to blur.

_Ow... my head... what's happening...?_

"Jeff! Quick! Or you'll ruin it!" Ness looked back at Jeff's place, and he was shocked to see that Jeff began to clutch his head. Jeff then fell down, unconscious.

"Oh, no! Jeff!" Ness ran back. Everyone who was planning to bring out the surprise ended up ceasing their plan because of Jeff. As Paula and her parents had arrived at the park, Paula began to question about the situation.

"...Huh? Ness? Poo? What's going on?"

"Oh, it's you, Paula. We're sorry. It's supposed to be a big surprise for you, but the plans turned out wrong." Poo said.

"...Um, it's actually... fine... to me. But, why?" Paula began to get a little nervous.

"You might as well see..." Poo pointed to the unconscious Jeff. He looked awfully pale. Ness is standing next to him, trying to cure him with his psychic powers, but failed.

"Argh! Everything's an utter failure!" Ness desperately said.

One of the Runaway Five said, "It's okay, Ness. There are times where our plans ended up in failure. At least Paula's still happy, right?"

"Uh... that's your plan?" Paula asked the group.

"Yes, Paula. We wanted to do something special for you, but we're sorry that because of your friend over there we can't make our plan a success."

"Do you mean Jeff?"

The Runaway Five group nodded. Paula walked closer to Ness. "...It's okay, Ness. I'm still happy that you and our friends still care about me. The whole birthday thing doesn't matter to me."

"You're happy? You're still happy? I don't think you're telling the truth!"

"...It's true. I don't really care about the failure. At least we can get together in a birthday party like this. That's what friends do, right?"

Ness sighed. He then realized that several people started to walk away from the park, though he didn't care much. He began to explain something.

"Paula, for some reason, Jeff collapsed just before the plans worked. I mean, before that happened, he's still very healthy. But now..."

"Maybe he's just tired, or maybe... there's something really wrong with him."

"Huh?"

"I don't know why, but I'm having a feeling that Jeff should be taken to the hospital. After seeing your desperate attempts to revive him, I have this feeling that he should be taken there."

"You're right. Maybe there's something that can't be cured with my psychic powers."

Meanwhile, Poo was also trying to cure Jeff, to no avail. "My powers also don't work. I think Paula's right. Let's take Jeff to the hospital."

Since then, Jeff stays in the hospital for days. He still has no memory about the events before his collapse. Even none of his friends can tell him. It's unknown why.

At the current time, Jeff is getting very sleepy and he's already lying on his bed, but he still doesn't fall sleep yet, as if he's thinking about something. It's probably about the past events, which he finds it hard to remember. However, he's getting sleepier, then he finally closes his eyes.

_**Not sure if I'm writing this right, since it looks like my fanfic-writing skills seem to be decreased. Don't believe me? Compare my recent fics to the older ones. You'll see what I mean.**_

_**Also, I'm not sure whether I made Ness OOC or not. Probably yes, I think.**_

_**More chapters coming soon.**_


	2. Chapter 2: Confusing Vision

_**Oh, my. I haven't worked on this story since like... a long time ago? Anyway, I got a review about this story, so it motivates me a bit. Thanks for the review.**_

_**Well, here we are, the second chapter. Let me know if there's something else wrong. :)**_

**Chapter 2: Confusing Vision**

The next day, at 9 o'clock in the morning, Jeff is still lying on his bed. It's like as if he almost can't get up unlike usual.

_Knock, knock!_

Someone's knocking the door. Jeff looks at the door for a few seconds, then looks back up, looking at the ceiling.

_Urk... I just can't tell him!_

_*sigh* I can't take it anymore! We shouldn't have done something stupid like that!_

_You two... shut up! If we keep doing this, you won't feel sorry, Ness..._

"Huh?" Jeff heard voices. Familiar voices. He tries to get up, but for some reason he can only move his arm. The door then opens, thanks to someone falling backwards into the door.

"Ouch!" Ness is that 'someone'.

Jeff feels somewhat delighted as he smiles a bit. His three friends then go inside his room.

"W-well... morning, Jeff. Actually, Ness has something to say to you." Paula said.

Ness gets up and begins talking. "Listen, Jeff. Sorry for hiding this, but your sickness has something to do with..."

Before Ness finishes his sentence, Jeff's vision blurs.

After that, he wakes up. That event was just a dream.

"Oh! You finally woke up!" Paula said. She's sitting on a chair next to him. Jeff looks at the window, then the clock in the room. It's 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

"I've been here for 3 hours, just making sure you're okay. Well... you passed out last night. If only Ness didn't make you so worked up... and we didn't put the party as the very first priority..."

Yes, all those previous events, including several days before his friends' visit (except for the party), are all part of his dream. He has been actually staying in the hospital for almost a day.

Jeff then realizes about the last night's party. He remembers how messed up it was. Not really messed up though, but he still feels that the party wasn't complete because of him. Jeff then has a thought about his dream. He talks to Paula.

"Listen, Paula. Uh... I had a dream."

"Huh? Did you hear my voice?"

"Er... it's more like you and the others' voices."

"Weird. I remember trying to perform telepathy to speak to you before you woke up."

"Well... let me get to the point. The point is that I dreamed about me being ignored by you and Poo, thanks to Ness'... how do I say this... nonsense idea?"

"Oh? That seems a bad dream. All of us are already friends since our journey to defeat Giygas. There's no way we'll be ignoring you... except if Ness is getting panicky..."

"Uh, huh... But one thing for sure that Ness was about to start talking about my sickness, only for my dream to end..."

"Now that's interesting. Maybe Ness knows something about your sickness. But we have to wait until tomorrow."

As the two continue talking, the sun is setting.

"Oh, well, the sun is setting. I have to go back home. I'll try to ask Ness and Poo to come here." Paula said.

"Okay."

"By the way, have some cookies and a music box. I think those things can make you feel a bit better." Paula points to the small desk next to Jeff's bed. There are a small bag of cookies and a music box on it.

"Oh, okay. See you later."

"See you. Hope you'll get better soon, Jeff!" Paula exits the room.

As the sky changes from bright to dark, Jeff is enjoying the cookies. He's also thinking about something.

"Hmm... I don't remember what caused me to pass out. What was the cause? Was I tired like Paula said? No. I was fine. But speaking of this weird disease... I have no idea. Oh, wait. I think I know... or maybe not? I don't remember..."

Jeff keeps trying to recall the past moments before he passed out, to no avail. Now that the cookies are all eaten, the only thing that Jeff can do at that moment is thinking.

Later, he realized that he has wasted his time for thinking. He then tries to leave his bed in order to go to the bathroom. Though difficult at first because of his dizziness, Jeff manages to slowly walk into the bathroom.

After everything's done, Jeff is back on his bed, staring at the room's ceiling. Having nothing else to do, he puts off his glasses, which apparently are there for the whole time. As he puts his glasses on the nearby desk, he spots the music box.

_By the way, have some cookies and a music box. I think those things can make you feel a bit better._

Jeff remembers what Paula said. He then picks up the music box and opens it. A calming tune plays. Jeff smiles a bit as he listens. However, the music causes him to feel sleepy. Jeff then falls asleep shortly after that. However, the music box, still on his chest, is left open, causing it to keep playing the tune. The tune then slowly distorts on its own.

_**Looks like things are getting disturbing for Jeff. And that music box's tune is about to turn eerie.**_

_**Hope that the next chapter will clear the confusion.**_


End file.
